R. Doug Wicker — Author

Pisco Elqui Church

This small town in the heart of the wine growing region of Elqui Valley used to be called La Unión, which is rather ironic in that we came a long way (El Paso, Texas) to visit a La Unión when we have another just up the road from our home — La Unión, New Mexico.

Pisco Elqui

And before it was La Unión it went by the name La Greda.  But today this is the town of Pisco Elqui.  It was renamed Pisco Elqui way back in 1936 to assist Chile in laying claim to the name of the distilled alcoholic beverage called Pisco.

Pisco in the Making

We’ll get up close and personal with Pisco later in this series on Elqui Valley.  Today we’ll take a look at the town that got its name from the drink, and with the charming church that serves this community.  But first, let’s take a look at the trek up here to this village.  That entails taking a road high above the valley, one with some spectacular lookouts from which to photograph the valley below.

Ursula at the Elqui Valley lookout

Once we got into town we exited our tour bus and hoofed it around for a while.  Here you find this charming church at one end of the town square:

Pisco Elqui Church

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to photographing it from the front.  I did, however, manage to get inside for these looks:

Pisco Elqui Church

Pisco Elqui Church

Quite an elaborate interior.  Now for a nice little look at some of the local folk art you’ll see your walk around town:

Folk Art